The present invention relates to a touch-panel input type electronic device that has a touch panel which is a touch-sensitive panel with a point-input coordinate system formed on its surface and a display pnel for displaying coordinate data of a point corresponding to a point input to the touch panel, both the panels are laminated together.
A coordinate touch-input-and-display device composed of a LCD display panel on which a touch-sensitive panel made of resistive film is superimposed, is widely applied in various kinds of electronic apparatuses such as electronic cash-registers, word processors, portable information terminals and so on. Since a point-input coordinate system formed on the input-sensitive panel is matched with a display-side coordinate system formed on a front surface of the LCD display device, this coordinate touch-input-and-display system can display a touch-point inputted through the touch-sensitive panel as a point in the display-side coordinate system of the LCD display panel, which can be seen through the touch-sensitive panel.
However, the touch-sensitive panel laminated on the LCD display screen has a suitable spacing from the display screen surface and may therefore cause an observer to have a parallax when viewing the input point on the display screen through the transparent touch-sensitive panel at an angle thereto. Namely, a displacement may occur between the touch-inputted point and the displayed point especially often while observing an image on the screen of the coordinate touch-and-display panel swingably attached to the electronic apparatus. In other [word] words inclining the touch-and-display panel of the apparatus may always be accompanied by an apparent displacement of a displayed point from a touch-inputted point due to parallax.
There have been several attempts to solve the above problem. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No.3-48318 discloses an electronic apparatus having a mechanism for sliding a touch-sensitive panel against a display panel according to an inclination of the display panel with respect to the apparatus main body every time when the panel is swung at a desired viewing angle.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No.10-207632 discloses a linkage mechanism by which a LCD panel and a touch-sensitive panel are linked with each other in such a way that changing inclination of the LCD display panel with respect to the horizontal plane is always followed by automatic adjustment of the inclination of the touch-sensitive panel.
The mechanism for sliding the touch-sensitive panel against the display panel according to an inclination of the latter with respect to the apparatus main body as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No.3-48318 may be so complicate that it may provably increase the overall size of the apparatus, resulting in increasing manufacturing expense of the apparatus.
The link mechanism for linking the touch-sensitive panel with the LCD panel as proposed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No.10-207632 may probably increase the overall size of the apparatus, resulting in increasing manufacturing expense of the apparatus.
In addition, the link mechanism cannot tilt the touch-sensitive panel and the LCD panel over a certain limit angle.
Furthermore, both apparatuses use mechanical joints between the touch-sensitive panel and the display panel, which may therefore have such a common problem that any displacement is irrevocably compensated even when it has no need to be compensated.
The object of the present invention is to provide a touch-panel input type electronic device that is simple and inexpensive and can reliably compensate an apparent displacement of a point display on the display panel from a touch-inputted point on the touch-sensitive panel.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a touch-panel input type electronic device that has a touch-and-display panel composed of a double layered panel, one being a transparent touch-sensitive panel having a touch-point-input coordinate system provided on its surface for locating a touch input point thereon, and the other being a display panel having a point display coordinate system for locating a display point corresponding to coordinate values of an input point on the touch-sensitive panel, and swingably attached to the device main body and is characterized by further including means for sensing an inclination angle of the touch-sensitive panel and the display panel with respect to the main body and correction control means for correcting coordinate values of a touch point inputted through the touch-sensitive panel on the basis of the sensed inclinations of the panels and displaying the corrected coordinate values of the inputted point on the display panel.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a touch-panel input type electronic device that is similar to the above-mentioned device but is further provided with a function to cancel the above correction control.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a touch-panel input type electronic device that has a touch-and-display panel composed of a transparent touch-sensitive input panel having a touch-point-input coordinate system and being superimposed over a surface of a display panel having a point display coordinate system, and fixedly attached to the device main body and is characterized by further including means for sensing an inclination angle of the touch-sensitive panel and the display panel with respect to the horizontal plane and correction control means for correcting a coordinate value of a touch point made on the touch-sensitive panel on the basis of the sensed inclination angle of the panels and a predetermined distance between them and displaying the corrected coordinate value of the inputted point on the display panel.